Metal sheet used for freight car structures



May 3,1927. 1,626,994

r w. E. WILLIAMS METAL SHEET USED FOR FREIGHT CAR STRUCTURES Filed Oct.17, T923 2 Sheets-Shoat 1 III/Ill 7 6 x j g I .l'rwcnjo v new 7165 Ma "31927. 1.626 9 y w. E. WILLIAMS METAL SHEET USED FOR FREIGHT CARSTRUCTURES Filed on. 17. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 3, 1927.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM ERASTUS "WILLIAMS, OF WILMETTE, ILLINOIS.

METAL SHEET USED FOR FREIGHT CAR STRUCTURES.

Application filed October 17, 1923. serial No. 669,081.

My metal sheet relates specifically to steel ends for box cars but maybe applied for other purposes.

In a steel end for a box car it is desirable to press the whole end froma single unitary sheet of steel, but it is difficult and expensive toroll a sheet of this size sufliciently thin for the purpose required. Iseek to save this expense by my invention. i

Reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is afront elevation of my sheet of metal. Fig.2 is a side sectional view andthese two views are on somewhat smaller relative scale than the otherfigures in the case. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the box car end. Fig.4 is a transverse sectional'view of a part of an end through ahorizontal corrugation shown in Fig. 3 but on a somewhat larger scale.Fig. 5 is a horizontal transverse section through the corner and avertical'corrugation. Both Figs. 4 and 5 relate to the structure shownin Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is an end elevation of another form of a box car endand Fig. 7 is a vertical section through the end shown in Fig. 6.

Steel ends for box cars are usually made out of pieces riveted together.Some ends are made of two pieces some of three and others four or moreand these pieces usually extend crosswise on the car and are rivetedtogether at the seams. The purpose of this isthat the top portion of anend is not required to be as thick metal as the lower portion and it isa common'practice to make the upper section thinner than the lowersection and then after the ends are pressed to shape the sections areriveted together. The

making of these ends in sections as above.

indicated permits a cheaper grade of steel to be used because sheets ofnarrower width are cheaper than those of wider width as relates towidths that are needed for car ends. The pressing is then done in theseparate sheets and after the sheets are pressed the sections areriveted together into the one sheet as has been the usual practice inthe greater part of the steel ends heretofore used.

The labor involved in pressing the smaller sheets is substantially asgreat as any involved in pressing an entire sheet to form an entire end,the difference being only that in one case a little larger press isrequired. However, presses large enough to press the entire end are incommon use and it the metal might be had as cheaply for the one sheetend, the ends would all be made out of one sheet bodies. 1

Since the several pieces of the end where ends are made in section areriveted to gether it would be impractical to heat and press a sheet thathad been riveted prior to the pressing for then the rivets would bedistorted and the joint be weakened and it would come apart and thus notmake a practicable job. a

As it is a desirable thing to havea varying thicknessin the metal fordifferent portions of the end this alone substantially makes itimpracticable to roll a sheet of metal as large as this with a taperthat would be required or with the difference in thickness required as Ihave described.

In order to arrive at the results desired I buy the steel in differentthicknesses as required for the different portions of the end and thenwhen these sheets are in the fiat I assemble them together on a fiattable and weld theiseams into an integrally united sheet which is madeof the right thickness of metal in any portion of the end.

In Figs. 1 and 2, 1 indicates the top portion of the sheet, 2 the middleportion and 3 the lower portion, each varying in thickness as desiredand these portions are welded together at points 4 and 5 and when .sowelded they become a unitary piece of metal which may be handled in .thefurnace and in the press making a unitary end sheet, which saves thecost in handling and in pressing and also saves cost as relates toriveting.

An end structure shown by Figs.y3, 4, and 5 is made stiff in everydirection by means of the cross ribs 6 and 7 stifiened at theirintersections by bulbous portions 8 which have the result of making aunitary stiff end substantially without a continuously straight neutralaxis in any direction. Were this end of Fig. 3 made in separatepiecesand riveted together it would not be practicable to get as stiffan end in every direction as may be done by making it of a unitarysheet. It will readily be seen that the stiffening ribs which cross thelapped riveted portions could not reasonably be made as stiff or freefrom a neutral axis in this field as if it were made of a unitary sheet.In order to get the full benefit of this type of an end or any othertype of an end which seeks to be free from a neutral axis r a line oflow bending moment as compared with the balance of the area may not behad by a sheet that is spliced but is necessarily made out of a unitarysheet of metal.

Figs. 6 and 7 show an end that has been largely used and most generallymade of separate sections riveted together but as I have above describedin pressing this end in several pieces the cost of the press work andthe cost of the riveting is very much reduced by the use of a unitaryend sheet like I have shown composed of sections of different thicknessintegrally united in the flat.

Heretof'ore in making ends like Figs 6 and 7 or similar thereto thedifferent upper and lower pieces out of which the ends were made wereoverlapped and riveted together and this overlapping consumed extrametal which serves no useful purpose beyond connecting the piecespreviously pressed.

Owing to the variations in the draw and shrinkage of narrow sheetspressed in the usual way, it .is necessary to provide for overlappingthe sheets where joined to allow for these variations and it istherefore not practical to join these separately pressed sheets by buttweldin I make a saving of the metal and the labor as well and get a niceuniform junction of the different pieces which compose the structurebefore they are heated for pressing. The heating operations used forsoftening the metal for pressing purposes also serves to anneal thewelded portions which aids in the restoring a normal integral connectionof the metal of the sheet.

The lines 9, 10, 11, and 12 in the figures do not indicate the seam butonly show the juncture of the different thickness of the metal whichform the integral sheet that composes the end.

It is my purpose to manufacture these sheets of varying thickness andsupply the different end makers with these sheets of steel adapted forthe purpose as described,

which may be used with any type of stiffening-form for an end.

What I claim is 1. An integral metal sheet, rolled in seceas es.

tions and then integrally united in the flat, and then formed into a boxear member, having stiffening portions pressed in the body of the metalof the sheet.

2. A box car end, rolled in sections in flat form, integrally united inthe flat form, and then heated and pressed with stiffening portionswhile hot.

3. The method of forming sheet metal ends for railway cars whichconsists in welding separately rolled metal sheets at their margins toform a single blank, then ieating and pressing said blank to form a carend.

4. A railway car end made of a plurality of metal sheets integrallyunited by welding at their margins, heated to an annealing temperatureand then pressed into the desired shape.

5. A process of forming a railway car end which consists of welding attheir abutting margins a plurality of metal sheets of progressivelyvarying thicknesses, heating the blank thus formed to an anneaiingtemperature, and pressing said blank into a desired shape.

6. A process of forming a railway car end which consists of welding attheir abutting margins a plurality of sections of rolled metal, heatingthe compound sheet and pressing the same to form a unitary end havingintegral stiffening portions.

7 A railway car end formed of a plurality of metal sheets united bywelding at their margins and having stiffening corrugations crossingsaid welded joints.

8. A railway car end formed from a sheet of progressively varyingthickness pressed to form a unitary end having integral stiffeningportions.

9. A railway car end formed from a sheet of metal thinnest at the topand increased in thickness abruptly and progressively toward the bottomand pressed to form a unitary end having integral stiffening portions.

Signed at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this11th day of October, 1923.

"WILLIAM ERASTUS WVILLIAMS.

